The Wokay.com Wire
Insights on startups, and small to medium businesses. From those who've seen it, felt it, fixed it!
What 2025 Revealed About India’s Small Businesses and What Comes Next
2025 wasn’t a fairy tale for India’s startups and SMBs. Global headwinds tested limits, funding stayed cautious, and growth didn’t come easy.
Still, many small businesses pushed forward by formalizing faster, exporting more boldly, and adopting AI not as a nice-to-have, but as survival gear.
As the year wraps up, the picture is clear. Momentum is real, but so is the pressure to move faster with leaner teams and tighter margins.
Here’s a look at how 2025 shaped up, and why 2026 feels ready for acceleration.
A Stronger, More Formalized Base
India’s MSME ecosystem continues to deepen through digital formalization. Recent Udyam-linked estimates show over 6.8 crore registered MSMEs employing nearly 29.8 crore people, positioning the sector as one of the world’s largest engines of distributed employment and inclusive growth.
Encouragingly, scale is translating into performance. Surveys through 2025 indicate that more than half of manufacturing and trading MSMEs reported sales growth in early FY 2026, even as global conditions remained uncertain; signalling steady progress at home, not hesitation.
From Domestic Strength to Global Impact
That domestic momentum is increasingly visible on the global stage. Over the past four years, MSME exports have nearly tripled, rising from ₹3.95 lakh crore in 2020–21 to ₹12.39 lakh crore in 2024–25. The number of exporting MSMEs has also grown sharply, from about 53,000 to over 1.7 lakh.
Today, MSMEs contribute roughly 45–46% of India’s total exports, reinforcing their role not just as local job creators, but as a key force shaping India’s global trade footprint.
The Quiet Shift: SMBs Become AI-Powered
Growth, however, is no longer driven by scale alone. A defining shift of 2025 has been the rapid adoption of AI and automation.
Recent surveys show that 9 in 10 Indian SMBs (95.6%) are already investing in or planning AI adoption, outpacing the global average of 83%. A strong majority expect business growth in the year ahead, and increasingly view AI as essential to staying competitive, protecting margins, and managing complexity.
From workflow automation to analytics, hiring, marketing, and sales, AI is now embedded in day-to-day operations. Much of India’s small business story today is, quietly, an AI adoption story.
The Next Shift with Wokay: How Teams Get Work Done
As this shift played out across the ecosystem, it shaped some important choices for us as well.
In 2025, we made a deliberate shift at Wokay. Building on our existing product, we reimagined Wokay as a more focused, chat-first work platform for teams that rely heavily on WhatsApp to run day-to-day work. This effort leads to a completely redesigned UI and UX, scheduled for launch in January–February 2026.
The goal is simple: conversations that lead to action.
Related read: How Chat + Task Management Form a Power Combo for Enhanced Productivity!
Looking Ahead to 2026
As founders and operators head into 2026, momentum is real; but so are the demands. Teams are leaner, cycles are faster, and clarity matters more than ever. We’re excited to keep building alongside teams navigating this next phase of growth.
Wishing you and your teams a very Happy New Year 2026!
If you’d like more honest reflections, product updates, and practical insights through the year, subscribe to our newsletter and stay connected.